Dr. William Petit seemed to have the world on his side as he headed down the aisle with new love Christine Paluf, five years after he was the lone survivor of the brutal home invasion that left his wife and daughters dead.

Moving photographs from the day capture the newlyweds' laughter as leave the Connecticut church as man and wife, and the
tender moment Paluf leaned up to her new husband for
a kiss.

In a touching show of support, Dr Petit's former father-in-law Rev. Richard Hawke said his daughter would want her widowed husband to have someone like Ms Paluf in his life.

He added that he hopes the couple, who met while working for a foundation set up in the family's memory, go on to have children.

Dr William Petit headed down the aisle with new love Christine Paluf last August, five years after he was the lone survivor of the brutal home invasion that left his wife and daughters dead

Rev. Hawke wrote a blessing that was read at the wedding in West Hartford, Connecticut on Sunday.

'My theme for the prayer was this is the day for new beginnings,' he told the New York Daily News. 'After having come through the home
invasion and the death of his entire family ... this marriage was a time
for new beginnings.'

In the blessing, he mentioned each of the victims of the brutal attack in 2007 - Jennifer Hawke-Petit, 48, and the couple's daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old
Michaela.

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'I said I can hear Jennifer giving her blessing and love to William and Christine,' he toldPeople Magazine. 'I said about Hayley – who was this sports [fan] in the family and also a very good student – I had her saying, "Way to go, Dad!"'

'And from Michaela I had her saying, "Don’t forget us, Dad",' he continued. '"[And] if you have more children, and we hope you will, just love them as much as you have us and you will all be OK."'

Rev. Hawke, who said he has known Paluf for a year, went on: 'My
wife and I hope that they have children, and that they would love those
children just as much as [Petit] loved his other children.'

After their emotional wedding ceremony last year, which they shared with 300 family and friends, William and Christine moved into a new home on Farmington River in western Connecticut

Throughout his sorrow and his grief, Christine has been a constant. Always being by his side to hold his hand and pull him through

The wedding between Dr. Petit, 55, and photographer Paluf, 34, was witnessed by 300 friends and family on Sunday.

They began dating last year after working together at the Petit Family Foundation and became engaged in December.

Dr Petit, a diabetes specialist, gave
up practicing medicine after the death of his wife and children and
decided to devote his life to fighting
for justice for them through the foundation.

In 2008, he met Paluf at a local
country club, where she worked as a marketing director, and she offered
her professional photography services to the charity.

'It was fun,' Hayley Hovhanessian from the Petit Foundation told ABC News after the wedding, adding that the couple had planned on a honeymoon but she is 'not sure where'.

Marybelle Hawke, the mother of Dr Petit's deceased wife Jennifer Hawke-Petit, said her family welcomed the engagement and encouraged Petit to find peace and joy in his life.

Dr Petit with his wife Jennifer Hawke-Petit and their daughters, Hayley (left) and Michaela

Blessing: Rev. Richard Hawke (left), the father of Petit's murdered wife, has given his support to the marriage. Hawke and Petit are pictured with his sister Johanna Chapman outside court last year

Hawke-Petit's sister was among the
wedding guests.

'Our family needed this to help us heal,' Cindy Hawke-Renn told People. 'Making
sure that he is going to move forward and have love in his life and
have some joy is something that makes us feel better. It’s like a piece
of our healing. We all really like Christine.'

After the engagement in December, Hawke-Renn said: 'This is something we'd hoped and prayed
for, that Billy would one day find love again. He's happier and more joyful,
lighter.'

The happy day comes five
years since the horrific killings of Dr. Petit's family at the hands of
two house invaders, Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes.

They are on death row for the
murders of Mrs Hawke-Petit, 48, and the couple's daughters, 17-year-old Hayley and 11-year-old
Michaela.

New-found happiness: Dr William Petit, the lone survivor of a brutal home invasion in Connecticut, has married photographer Christine Paluf. His wife and two daughters died in the attack in 2007

Support: The family of Petit's deceased wife have wished him and Paluf the world of happiness

Together: The couple were joined by 300 friends and relatives at the wedding in West Hartford on Sunday

Mrs Hawke-Petit was raped and strangled while her children were tied to their beds and left to die when the house was set on fire.

Dr Petit was beaten with a baseball bat and tied up in the basement, but managed to escape by crawling to a neighbour's house.

Paluf attended the trials for the killers of Petit's family. Both Komisarjevsky and Hayes were convicted and are currently on Connecticut's death row, waiting to be put to death by lethal injection.

'There is never complete closure when
you lose your wife and family, but the first part is over and we think
justice has been served,' Petit said last December.

He also spoke of his devastation and how he had contemplated suicide after he was left with a 'jagged hole in my heart'.

'I miss my entire family, my home,
everything we had together,' he said. 'They were three special people. I
lost my entire family. I lost the records of our shared lives together
due to the fire.'

Killers: Joshua Komisarjevsky, left, and Steven Hayes, right, were convicted of raping Mrs Hawke-Petit and murdering her and her two daughters. They have both been sentenced to death

In March
2011, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed a new law that ends the
state's death penalty for future crimes, but it does not apply to those
already on death row.

Many had insisted that the death penalty remain for previous cases so that Komisarjevsky and Hayes would not be spared.

Earlier this year it emerged that Steven Hayes came up with a bizarre plan to end his own life by lying in a series of letters that he had killed 17 other victims and raped dozens of women.

However, he later claimed in an interview that he had 'made it all up' and that he had hoped the letters would lead prison authorities to notify police and he could trade information for food.

He planned to use the ploy to eat oysters in his cell to which he is deathly allergic.